


beginnings

by mairesmagicshop



Series: a thousand forgotten things - a pre-story Arcana collection [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 05:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15136295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mairesmagicshop/pseuds/mairesmagicshop
Summary: "He rises from his own desk to retrieve a book off the shelf. He's studied it before and found it useless, but perhaps he's missed something. Perhaps it needs a fresh pair of eyes - her eyes, sharp and clever, green as spring leaves after a soaking rain; the kind that brings the flowers back into bloom after a particularly cold winter.Not that he should overly notice these things, of course. "Spoilers for Book XIII.





	beginnings

She’s single-minded in her focus, brimming with questions, and patient, perhaps to a fault. Julian Devorak could ask for no better apprentice, he thinks to himself, gazing over his shoulder at the desk where she’s working.

Pencil in hand, she studies his drawings, her tongue curling to the side of her mouth as she notates in the margin. 

He rises from his own desk to retrieve a book off the shelf. He’s studied it before and found it useless, but perhaps he’s missed something. Perhaps it needs a fresh pair of eyes - her eyes, sharp and clever, green as spring leaves after a soaking rain; the kind that brings the flowers back into bloom after a particularly cold winter. 

Not that he should overly notice these things, of course. He clears his throat awkwardly; sits back down with the book. She was his new apprentice, after all, albeit a talented magician in her own right. And they had a job to do.

Her eyes shone brightly with promise the day they were introduced. She cared so desperately for the plight of the victims; was even a bit careless, in his estimation, of how closely she’d been caring for them. Beamed at him when he offered her the apprenticeship, shaking his hand and lingering a moment longer than necessary, wrapping a familiar hand around his forearm as she swore she wouldn’t let him down. Just friendly, he’d dismissed. Good bedside manner. “I can’t sit idly by while people suffer,” she’d said. 

Nor could he, and so he’d kept on these long months: sleepless nights, the raven his only company, and feeling like a reanimated corpse each morning, fueled on cup after cup of black coffee and the desperate need to not only solve the puzzle but discover what the bloody hell the pieces looked like in the first place.

He feels a depressive mood coming on as he pages mindlessly through the book - the dead ends make this entire exercise seem utterly hopeless. But it isn’t just him anymore, he chastises himself. He thinks back to their first meeting and it’s a port in the storm; she was guileless, almost reverent when she gazed upon him and spoke his name; like he was someone important, something special. And he’ll be damned if allows himself to tarnish her esteem of him so quickly. 

When she spoke his name…

“Dr. Devorak,” she says, tentatively, breaking him out of his reverie. “Are you busy over there? I had a thought and wanted to ask you…”

He turns, smiling. “Of course. But please, call me Julian.”


End file.
